Wayuu tribes feature prominently in Papillon by Henri Charrière, about an escaped convict who takes refuge with one such tribe.
The indigenous Wayuu managed contraband trading routes through Maicao arriving from Aruba, Curaçao, Venezuela and other Caribbean sea territories mostly coffee, alcohol, tobacco and weapons among other taxable articles.
Unusually, he carried out fieldwork across a wide range of languages across several continents, including Irish, Basque, Siouan languages, Algonquian languages, Iroquoian languages, the Central American language Kuna and the South American language of Choco and Wayuu and Australian Aboriginal languages.
S. griseus (Dagger Cactus) fruits, locally known as iguaraya, are relished by the Wayuu from the La Guajira Peninsula of Colombia.
The friars the created the orphanages for Wayuu children beginning with the La Sierrita orphanage built in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in 1903; followed by the San Antonio orphanage in 1910 located by the Calancala River, Nazareth orphanage in the Serrania de Macuira mountains in 1913 creating a direct influence over the Rancherías of Guarrachal, El Pájaro, Carazúa, Guaraguao, Murumana, Garra patamana and Karraipía.